Essay On Panopticon Prison

The first house of corrections can be traced back to 1596 in Amsterdam. This idea came about after a

12-year old boy was sentenced to death for theft and the government sought a more humane means to deal with petty criminals. The house of correction or workhouse was an institution built around the idea of rehabilitative value of regular work and the formation of “habits of industry”. Workhouses were frequently in the form of a hollow square, much like the convents and hospitals of the time. In fact, many were located in buildings once used for such purposes. Prisoners would work and sleep in common rooms with no privacy. Wealthy prisoners might be lodged in private rooms. Though there were many jails and workhouse built throughout Europe in the 1600s and 1700s, only a few had strong

He proposed a Panopticon prison. The circular design consisted of a guard’s tower in the center surrounded by barred cells in a circular formation. By this means guards could have continuous, unseen surveillance both visually and acoustically. Prisoners would never know if they were being watched and in theory behave to avoid punishment. The Panopticon design would have many critics and allies in subsequent centuries. Many years later, Michel Foulcault would write that”… the Panopticon is an ideal architectural figure of modern disciplinary power. The Panopticon creates a consciousness of permanent visibility as a form of power, where no bars, chains, and heavy locks are necessary for domination any more”. Proponents of Bentham’s design felt that is was a “tool of oppression and social control”. This radical design was never permitted to be built at the time in Britain, but would be later realized in several modified circular designs in the 1880s as well as at Illinois Penitentiary near Joliet and Presidio Modelo in Cuba in the 20th